Makati - Tagaytay 15 - 18 March 2013

Makati - Tagaytay 15 - 18 March 2013

A visit to Ayala Museum's latest exhibit while I was there with friends from Singapore and Malaysia to attend the opening of Toro Art's Over Carbs exhibition. These are a few sketches of the many exhibits now on show. — at Ayala Museum, Makati City.

The 1st mass in The Philippines in 1521.

Taal Lake

We had a day out sketching at Taal Highlands. This is my sketch of Taal Lake and Tagaytay from the highest point of Tagaytay. This is where President Marcos' half finished Palace in the Sky was built. It was meant as a guesthouse for the visiting US Preident Ronald Regan. It became People's Park in the Sky after the People Power Revolution which toppled the govt of President Marcos in 1986.

A sketch of the garden @ People's Park in the Sky with my left hand.

Market at Tagaytay. We bought this bright orangey local fruit called tisa.  Very yummy. Very sweet and creamy.

A sketch with coffee black and a stirrer at NAIA while waiting to board the plane for home.

Aduana Ruins - The Old Customs House, Manila

Ok, I admit that old buildings & ruins interest me much more as sketching subjects than most examples of modern architecture. Some of my favorite subjects to draw may include any of the following: chipped paint, mould, broken & rusting objects and a sense of disorder.
I had been eyeing the ruins of the Aduana Customs House in Intramuros, Manila, for almost 2 months; it's a classic example of ruins - a 135-year old stone building, destroyed in turn by the bombings of Manila in 1945, a fire in 1979, and thru general neglect since. And it's slightly out of the main tourist belt of Intramuros, so many people probably miss it.
I had to sketch my view of the interior looking through the gated windows - it's guarded & closed to the public, to keep squatters out. Looking in at the array of mouldy, scorched arches and cracked & chipped stone beams exposed to the sky gave me a thrill, and a sense of the history of this place!
The old rusting cement mixer sitting amongst the weeds & broken cement was an added bonus to the sketch.